How do I even put it into words... The Japanese drama and the Korean drama are two different stories. And not just because of the you-know-what difference in the plot. The characters are different, the aesthetic is different, the feeling it leaves you with is different.
The J-version is based much more around the plot, the hidden aspects of their characters, the irredeemability of each of them. They are more flawed characters. Even though it's Japanese, it really reminds me in many ways of What Happened in Bali... the feel of the cinematography and direction, the unlikeability of each character, the messiness of the plot as it develops, the distinctly old-school dorama feel, the same sort of ending. The J-story is heavily focused on human weaknesses, psychological undertones, needs and desires, impulsivity.
The K-version is based around the feelings of the heart, emotions of love and affection, and the chemistry of the ML and FL. Both stories are dark, but when Koreans do 'dark' it tends to be more smooth and subtle... The casting of the K-version was so good, the acting leaps out at you and you can feel what all the characters are feeling. The ML/FL chemistry is fiery. The time they take with character development adds to the richness of the feel of the show. The characters are re-worked to make each of them truly loveable - you are rooting for all of them. They all are redeemable. Which makes the tragedy that much more of a tragedy.
A perfect example of this is how in the J-Drama, the ML takes a pet bird. In the K-Drama, ML takes in a pet kitten. It's impossible to say one is better than the other. The Japanese version's bird adds a layer of poetic symbolism to the story. The bird represents something that will be unhappy caged, and equally unhappy free. Its singing changes the atmosphere of some of the scenes. It represents vulnerability. The Korean versions kitten represents sweetness and affection, closeness and emotional connection. It is free and dependent at the same time. There is symbology to the kitten, but it serves more as a literal emotional connection for the ML and FL.
Think of the K-version as a cover-song, done well. It sounds enough like the original to be completely recognizable, and yet is it's own creative variation on the song. The original version is treated with respect by the cover-artist, and executed with creativity and artistic license. What you get is two very different songs, each beautiful in it's own right.
To me the J-version is like Elvis Costello meets Quentin Tarantino. The K-version is like Ella Fitzgerald meets David Lynch.
I had a mixed reaction to this. The pacing of this show feels drawn out and doesn't hold my attention in any kind of dazzling or meaningful way. There were a few spicy scenes in the beginning, but none toward the end. The acting was fine but not great (but then, there really wasn't much script for them to work with).
As can be typical for a certain segment of J-drama, these are characters that aren't 100% relatable or likeable. They make decisions you probably wouldn't make, say things you probably wouldn't say.
But there were also good parts of this drama too. The actors are all decently good looking, decent at acting, and none of the actors/characters are annoying or outright evil or psycho. The wardrobe/hair&makeup/aesthetic was entirely passable. Which to me is refreshing.
I think maybe the best part of this drama was that I found it amusing how they made so much drama out of such little things, but then downplayed things that were in actuality more dramatic. It reminded me of what it was like to be young and in school. There's an episode where the entire drama centers around this cake. I was chuckling at how much dramatic mileage they got out of a single stupid cake. But then they'll kind of skim over stuff like estranged family or casual sex. I thought that it came off as cute/disturbing.
I think this would be a great show to watch when you need something emotionally numbing, distracting, soothing, or mildly amusing. I would not watch this if I was looking for something spicy, and I wouldn't watch it if I was looking for something enthralling and epic.
I thought this was horrible. There were some good aspects to it.... each episode is kind of thrilling, with good story flow and great martial arts scenes. There is also a lot of good acting in this drama. But the music, which starts out as unobtrusive and beautiful, becomes an annoying crescendo by the final episodes. Final episodes rely way too much on memory flashback montages. The ending is not the payoff you think it's going to be, and is extremely abrupt. This drama started off strong, powered through it's middle episodes well, and then petered out at the end in a way I distinctly disliked.
I mean, you're entitled to your opinion, (and I happen to think that the ML is gorgeous), but does a leading character…
No, if there's say... a good plot, excellent acting, a director who knows how to captivate, a fascinating script. In the absence of substance, all one has is one's looks. This drama didn't have any substance worth watching, and in the absence of that substance, didn't even have any eye candy to compensate for it. There was nothing noteworthy about it. To me this is like something to watch when you've watched everything else and you're incredibly bored.
Physically pains me he's never the lead. He's so captivating.
I'm watching Ancient Love Poetry, and that's exactly how I felt when I saw him for the first time. I was like "Ach, god! Who is that... and why isn't he the ML." and now I just wait for his scenes, and can't take my eyes off him.
"I'll kiss you so hard next time, your insides will throb." YESSSSSS, BABY! I LOVE IT!!!! 😂😂"I can take…
I was going to write a little review, but you said everything I was going to say! Soooo spicy!!! There was a cheese factor to it, but I think it works in this drama.
I gave it an 8, the points off are for a tiresome bodyswap plot-diversion, and the fact that they kind of gave the ML too much comedy which at some points really messes with his whole "badass" vibe, and by the end of the show he's just way too cucked to the point where the sexiness of the ML they show you at the beginning just gradually sputters out.
This was so terrible. ML not hot, FL not hot, zero spice. On top of that, it was one of those dramas that's having an identity crisis - not a suspense, not a mystery, not a romance, not a comedy... just a confused mish-mash of aesthetics and story. Park Soo Young (who plays FL's dad) was the best part of this drama. One of the lowest scores I've ever given a show.
very average in many respects. But I like it because nothing is BAD. Nothing is cringe, no one is badly cast, the actors aren't annoying, there's no bad soundtrack in the way, and the plot, pacing, writing, and direction are all fine. If you want epic, this is not the k-drama you're looking for. If you want spicy, this is not your drama. But if you just want something light and refreshing to pass the time, this one is good. I will definitely be watching the whole second season.
Which are the other four? I like your reviews. Very insightful
I guess I'd say CLOY, Shopping King Louie, Crazy Love, Oh My Venus, Love and Destiny, Doom at your Service, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes... I've given them all 9/10.
I thought it was AWESOME. The aesthetics and cinematograpy are nice. The casting is all beautiful, and all have a sort of other-worldly look to them. Combined with the aesthetics, it gives it sort of a dreamlike, surreal quality (kind of reminded me of the way 'A Korean Odyssey' looked style-wise, only softer and more intimate, in that distinctly Japanese way). The story is bare bones, like SKIMPY plot. Everything seems very mysterious. Don't get me wrong, this drama is a piece of fluff basically. But all the characters are just slightly mysterious, the soundtrack adds to that effect, and while there was very little soundtrack, what there was was good, and added to the scenes.
They give you no reasons for a lot of the mysteries in this drama. That makes them seem pointless and stupid if you look at it one way. I could see someone describing it as vapid even. But seen from another angle, this story could have been about a ghost, a vampire, a gumiho, an alien, a wizard, a superbeing, or the outside layer of some other deeper plotline. In other words, this drama was flexible. Capable of containing so many different possibilities. It doesn't impose anything on the viewer, leaving so much to the imagination. That in itself is an art that seems easy but isn't.
Strangely, this drama is also a love letter to coffee. But this almost gave it a tiny little 'Twin Peaks' edge to it. And the drama was completely sincere in it's love for coffee. It wasn't ever making fun of coffee, or blatantly using it as a tool to set something up. Except for that one scene in episode 4 where she puts the full portafilter in the machine, and then the phone rings and she goes to answer it without starting the shots - honey, you just burnt those shots! But even the espresso shots they film look beautiful and perfect.
ML is HOT. FL is plenty good enough. And those kisses are straight FIRE. Some of the best kissing I've ever seen in an asian drama. And there's lots of kiss scenes. It has moments that are spicy af, but this drama doesn't ever really cross the line the way Kakafukaka does, it's not that explicit.
I thought it was perfectly balanced, well executed, and exquisite both in the ways it satisfies, and the ways it doesn't satisfy.
This drama was like a beautiful mystery box that you can put whatever you want inside it. I'm giving it 8/10, even though its practically plotless because there are just so many things to enjoy about it.
This drama was very cotton candy, but it was the best cotton candy ever. The situations were somewhat believable, the casting was perfect, it was spicy, it was cute, it was kilig, it was touching... I didn't love it, but I liked it quite a bit. Gave it an 8.
This was kind of like... where most romances end, this one picks up. Sort of like "what happens directly after happily ever after". Its overly cheesy, bare bones plot, not the best but not the worst casting, actors, and soundtrack. Because of that, even though it has a lot of skinship, and a lot of spice, it has nearly no angst. So the kilig moments arent quite as strong as they can be in some of the angstier love stories like "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" or "Devil Beside You" or TMOPB/ELOD romances. I gave it an average score. It was nice that it was spicy. But I did miss the angstiness I like in romance dramas, and didn't think the ML was as drop dead gorgeous as the character he was portraying. He was handsome enough, but he's no Seo In Guk or Lee Soo Hyuk by any means. And FL was playing up the "baby doll" routine just a little bit too much, but it wasn't too bad.
This is one of only a handful of movies I've ever watched where the sex scenes aren't gratuitous. Each one conveys something different, and when you add them all up, you have a very beautiful message, in which the director is trying to convey how for some people in some situations, sex and love aren't a straight line. Sometimes people, through complex situations, get wired differently in that area of life.
I see this movie as controversial because in a very distinct way, it romanticizes prostitution, and romanticizes dysfunctional sexuality. Yet the opposite side of that is that it humanizes sexual dysfunction, so that a person isn't defined by their kink, it's just another aspect of their personhood. Also in defense of the film, it is highly respectful of how it treats the topic of AIDS.
If you skip the dialogue and just watch for the smut factor, you miss the entire artistry of the movie. If you skip the smut and just watch for the dialogue, you also miss the artistry of the movie, because each sex scene has something to convey. In this sense, the movie is sort of genius. A very deliberate movie.
We have all seen shows that depict sex work as seedy, dirty, depressing, hopeless. This is the opposite side of that. I think it's relying on the concept that most of the viewers already have seen the sordid side of the sex industry and know what it entails, and this movie is almost like an apology to that. A serious attempt at an explanation for why people end up in the industry, why they stay, or why they support it.
I don't agree entirely with some of the viewpoints the film takes, but I respect that at least it wasn't at all just another piece of smut. There are very deep emotions running through this movie.
This drama is so wrong in so many ways. The side story is about a tender, loving bond between an ex-serial rapist and an underage girl whose self esteem is so low that she realizes how much the ex-serial rapist really cares about her after a fight they have wherein he chokes her out with his bare hands.
And that's just the side story. So yeah, it's pretty messed up.
I just finished this. I could give a thoughtful detailed review, but the ending was so so terrible, that I won't even bother. Maybe one of the most UNromantic endings i've ever seen in a drama. Ruined the entire thing.
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How do I even put it into words... The Japanese drama and the Korean drama are two different stories. And not just because of the you-know-what difference in the plot. The characters are different, the aesthetic is different, the feeling it leaves you with is different.
The J-version is based much more around the plot, the hidden aspects of their characters, the irredeemability of each of them. They are more flawed characters. Even though it's Japanese, it really reminds me in many ways of What Happened in Bali... the feel of the cinematography and direction, the unlikeability of each character, the messiness of the plot as it develops, the distinctly old-school dorama feel, the same sort of ending. The J-story is heavily focused on human weaknesses, psychological undertones, needs and desires, impulsivity.
The K-version is based around the feelings of the heart, emotions of love and affection, and the chemistry of the ML and FL. Both stories are dark, but when Koreans do 'dark' it tends to be more smooth and subtle... The casting of the K-version was so good, the acting leaps out at you and you can feel what all the characters are feeling. The ML/FL chemistry is fiery. The time they take with character development adds to the richness of the feel of the show. The characters are re-worked to make each of them truly loveable - you are rooting for all of them. They all are redeemable. Which makes the tragedy that much more of a tragedy.
A perfect example of this is how in the J-Drama, the ML takes a pet bird. In the K-Drama, ML takes in a pet kitten. It's impossible to say one is better than the other. The Japanese version's bird adds a layer of poetic symbolism to the story. The bird represents something that will be unhappy caged, and equally unhappy free. Its singing changes the atmosphere of some of the scenes. It represents vulnerability. The Korean versions kitten represents sweetness and affection, closeness and emotional connection. It is free and dependent at the same time. There is symbology to the kitten, but it serves more as a literal emotional connection for the ML and FL.
Think of the K-version as a cover-song, done well. It sounds enough like the original to be completely recognizable, and yet is it's own creative variation on the song. The original version is treated with respect by the cover-artist, and executed with creativity and artistic license. What you get is two very different songs, each beautiful in it's own right.
To me the J-version is like Elvis Costello meets Quentin Tarantino. The K-version is like Ella Fitzgerald meets David Lynch.
As can be typical for a certain segment of J-drama, these are characters that aren't 100% relatable or likeable. They make decisions you probably wouldn't make, say things you probably wouldn't say.
But there were also good parts of this drama too. The actors are all decently good looking, decent at acting, and none of the actors/characters are annoying or outright evil or psycho. The wardrobe/hair&makeup/aesthetic was entirely passable. Which to me is refreshing.
I think maybe the best part of this drama was that I found it amusing how they made so much drama out of such little things, but then downplayed things that were in actuality more dramatic. It reminded me of what it was like to be young and in school. There's an episode where the entire drama centers around this cake. I was chuckling at how much dramatic mileage they got out of a single stupid cake. But then they'll kind of skim over stuff like estranged family or casual sex. I thought that it came off as cute/disturbing.
I think this would be a great show to watch when you need something emotionally numbing, distracting, soothing, or mildly amusing. I would not watch this if I was looking for something spicy, and I wouldn't watch it if I was looking for something enthralling and epic.
Still a great drama, though.
I will definitely be watching the whole second season.
They give you no reasons for a lot of the mysteries in this drama. That makes them seem pointless and stupid if you look at it one way. I could see someone describing it as vapid even. But seen from another angle, this story could have been about a ghost, a vampire, a gumiho, an alien, a wizard, a superbeing, or the outside layer of some other deeper plotline. In other words, this drama was flexible. Capable of containing so many different possibilities. It doesn't impose anything on the viewer, leaving so much to the imagination. That in itself is an art that seems easy but isn't.
Strangely, this drama is also a love letter to coffee. But this almost gave it a tiny little 'Twin Peaks' edge to it. And the drama was completely sincere in it's love for coffee. It wasn't ever making fun of coffee, or blatantly using it as a tool to set something up. Except for that one scene in episode 4 where she puts the full portafilter in the machine, and then the phone rings and she goes to answer it without starting the shots - honey, you just burnt those shots! But even the espresso shots they film look beautiful and perfect.
ML is HOT. FL is plenty good enough. And those kisses are straight FIRE. Some of the best kissing I've ever seen in an asian drama. And there's lots of kiss scenes. It has moments that are spicy af, but this drama doesn't ever really cross the line the way Kakafukaka does, it's not that explicit.
I thought it was perfectly balanced, well executed, and exquisite both in the ways it satisfies, and the ways it doesn't satisfy.
This drama was like a beautiful mystery box that you can put whatever you want inside it. I'm giving it 8/10, even though its practically plotless because there are just so many things to enjoy about it.
I see this movie as controversial because in a very distinct way, it romanticizes prostitution, and romanticizes dysfunctional sexuality. Yet the opposite side of that is that it humanizes sexual dysfunction, so that a person isn't defined by their kink, it's just another aspect of their personhood. Also in defense of the film, it is highly respectful of how it treats the topic of AIDS.
If you skip the dialogue and just watch for the smut factor, you miss the entire artistry of the movie. If you skip the smut and just watch for the dialogue, you also miss the artistry of the movie, because each sex scene has something to convey. In this sense, the movie is sort of genius. A very deliberate movie.
We have all seen shows that depict sex work as seedy, dirty, depressing, hopeless. This is the opposite side of that. I think it's relying on the concept that most of the viewers already have seen the sordid side of the sex industry and know what it entails, and this movie is almost like an apology to that. A serious attempt at an explanation for why people end up in the industry, why they stay, or why they support it.
I don't agree entirely with some of the viewpoints the film takes, but I respect that at least it wasn't at all just another piece of smut. There are very deep emotions running through this movie.
And that's just the side story. So yeah, it's pretty messed up.